Chapter Twelve: A Jack in the Box (Sunrise)

December 5th, 2009

Brooklyn, New York

Hikari found herself waking up on a sofa. It wouldn't be the first time she had fallen asleep on one, except well, this wasn't hers or Wallace's. She sat up and almost yelped in surprise at the sheet falling off of her body. It certainly woke Tailmon, who made a grumbling noise and hid her face closer to Hikari's stomach. Hikari couldn't help but giggle.

"What are you doing?" She finally stopped laughing when Tailmon pulled away from her with a disgruntled frown, her ears drooping.

"Sleeping. Or I was." Tailmon moved back to her perch on Hikari's shoulder, resigning herself to being wide awake. "That furball of your neighbor's wanted to play. She kept me awake trying to get your attention"

Hikari giggled again before she could display the right amount of sympathy. Then, looking around, she realized just where she was. This was not Wallace's apartment. Recognizing the swishing pale curtains of Furude-sa – Sayo and Koh's apartment.

"Morning," murmured a raspy voice. Hikari turned to the right and saw Koh, messy hair almost rivaling her brother's pre-haircut look in terms of pure bedhead alone. "You like eggs?"

Hikari's brain took a few minutes to actually comprehend the question. "Yes please."

"Good, cause I'm making eggs." He yawned and scratched his head. "Did Sayo leave for the bank already?"

"I just woke up," Hikari admitted. "She's been gone for a while I suppose."

Koh yawned again. "Probably why I stopped hearing squeaking baby Digimon." Tailmon grumbled something about that being a relief before she moved to follow him. Hikari watched with bemusement. Her partner had taken a liking to Koh for whatever reason (she was presuming it was good fish and intelligent opinions but she would never tell that to the world.) and Hikari didn't really mind Koh herself. Though, like with Sayo-chan, the eventual slip from last name to first happened a bit faster than she expected. Maybe it was the way their voices slipped in soft accents from speaking Japanese a long time before, or the methodical way they lived together without rubbing shoulders.

Maybe it was the warmth of Sayo's hand.

Whoa brain. Hikari blushed and shook her head. That was a step in a direction she didn't know her mind could go. Of course, saying 'it was just holding hands' was a fancy way of projecting denial which just proved her guilt. Then again, there was nothing to be guilty of, was there? It wasn't like it would go anywhere beyond that. She had no idea what beyond that looked like anyway, or if Sayo-chan was even interested in that sort of-

Koh set a plate of scrambled eggs with salt and pepper on the table next to her, followed by leftover rice balls. She blushed a bit again and moved to eat, embarrassment flooding her system for being that out of it.

"You were thinking pretty hard," he said after they had both at least taken a few bites. "Fifty yen-piece for your thoughts?"

"Isn't it supposed to be a penny?" she asked in an effort to not have to answer. His lips quirked and she flushed, busying herself with a piece of egg.

"My uncle always said fifty yen piece, Cause he had a lot in his pockets." Koh swallowed. "Think that was why. So, mind talking about it?"

Hikari paused to try and phrase it. How did you say something like this? "Uhm… how did you and your boyfriend get together, if you don't mind me asking?"

Koh blinked in surprise, almost dropped his rice ball. Then he picked it up again. "Well." He grunted. "Six months ago, his stupid butt wanted to go out for dinner, but he had no Earth money. So I had to cover him. He decided the best way to make up for it was to snog me in the toilets."

"Did you just say snog?" Why her brain focused on that instead of the 'that's unsanitary' part or the 'kissing in general' part was beyond her. Maybe being in that bookstore had fiddled with her brain. In a good way. Theoretically.

Koh scoffed. "Kiss, whatever. Are you always this picky?"

"She has to learn English somehow," they heard Sayo murmur as she entered the apartment. "I've got chicken and fries."

Koh cheered outright, unknowingly giving Hikari the chance to school her face into something less embarrassing, or at least to try that.

And let Tailmon steal another rice ball, but no one was looking. So.

"It's good to know what I'm liked for, right Hikari-san?" Sayo was smiling. It was a light up your face kind of smile, one of those things that Daisuke liked coaxing out of her on rainy days. It made her face look so much more carefree.

Hikari swallowed a bit of food and laughed. "Yes, bringing the salt and carbs."

"I love her for so much more than that, I swear." He still leaped toward the greasy smelling bag anyway, pleasure all over him. "But frieessss~

Sayo mimed preparing to spill them on the floor and for a moment, Hikari had to look away. She didn't want to. The two of them were always so lively when it was just them and they forgot she was there. It was like Daisuke-kun and Miyako-san in a way. However, she was finding herself studying Sayo with an uncomfortable sort of intensity, and that was just plain rude.

Also Koh was looking at her for some reason, but she couldn't possibly guess what that was about.

Hikari paused outside her apartment door. She jiggled the handle and then paused again. "I locked up yesterday morning… didn't I Tailmon?" She kept her voice soft.

"You did," her partner confirmed just as quietly, big ears up. "Your key almost got stuck in the lock."

"Do you smell anyone in there?"

Before Tailmon could answer, the door opened from the inside. She came face to face with a woman's chest, literally. Said young woman was a head taller than her, some of her purple locks (lighter than Sayo's, she thought distantly, and shorter) twined around the hand not holding the doorknob. The thin line of her mouth softened slightly, but not by much.

"Oh, there you are," she said, quiet voice giving way to exhaustion. "I thought you would be gone all day, and on a weekend no less." The woman sighed. "Though I suppose that is an inclination of youth. I must get out more. Anyway, this is your apartment and I am intruding. If you come inside quickly, I will explain and then depart."

Tailmon hissed at the woman, both in alarm and likely defiance.

The woman only stared back, unmoved. "If you leave, I'll still be here when you return," she commented. "So I would recommend accepting listening to me now."

Tailmon made to leap but Hikari stepped forward. Not out of fear or brazen courage, not even out of a lack of options, but out of pure curiosity. If her door had been locked, this woman must have broken in somehow. If she found out how, she could warn Wallace for when he returned.

Also… why was she waiting for me?

After all, if she was a thief, she could have stolen everything and left. Hikari had been gone all night and most of the morning. So she had another purpose here-

"Correct. I do." When Hikari jumped to cover her mouth, the woman shook her head. "I can hear the thoughts of people thinking about me. It's a mite annoying but I've learned to compensate." She settled back in one of the chairs, a steaming cup of green tea on a nearby coast. "Would you like some?"

Hikari nodded before she could stop herself. Soon she was sipping on it. It was a little sweet, but she paid that no mind and stared expectantly at the woman before her. Tailmon moved to her lap, both claws careful to avoid digging into Hikari's legs. That was never fun.

As the woman put her cup down to look at Hikari, Hikari had to take pause. She doesn't have pupils.

"I haven't been able to fix that." The woman's lips twitched into a smile. "Yes, hearing people's thoughts about me is very irritating. It's why I don't go out much." She let out a sigh. "My name is Mikagura Mirei. You may know me currently as Homeostasis."

The word shook the air for a moment, like a boom of thunder.

Hikari didn't know off of the top of her head, but Tailmon did, her blue eyes narrowing into slits. "You. You were the one who-"

"I did." Mirei shrugged. "I performed the reboot. At the time, it was the most necessary course of action."

"You possessed me." Hikari shivered. There was a godly presence drinking tea across from her that had reset an entire world. "You caused the reboot. You caused our friends to forget who we were."

"I did." Mirei nodded slowly. "It was an unfortunate consequence, one I'd rather not repeat. Factory reset are burdensome on me at best."

"Why would you possess me if you could appear like this?" Hikari decided to just move the topic away before Tailmon's claws dug any deeper. "Sure you could have-"

"I could not." Mirei waved a hand outside. "Your world does not allow me to exist normally. Because of the state of your part of the universe, when the balance is safe, I cannot enter. But it is rapidly falling apart. A reboot is now a possibility." She sipped her tea. "And that is why I am here with you, Yagami Hikari-san."

She put her mug down. "You see, Furude Sayo committed a great sin. I am here to ask you to help her purify it. Or there will be another reboot. This time, I cannot promise your partners will survive the encounter in any way, shape or form."

"A sin?" Hikari's fingers latched onto her D-3. "What kind of sin?"

"The Seven Demon Lords were murdered in these past couple of human years, including the one you would know as Demon."

Hikari felt a chill run down her spine. "But… how would that be a sin?"

Mirei let out a heavy, dark sigh. "If there is no darkness, light cannot shine. Surely you recall this. Why else would more evil come forth for you of the light to vanquish it? Now, a great evil is coming, and she will need help to stop it. I believe that help is you, Child of Light. Just as the master of the Dark Ocean must."